The Mighty Inca Trail

Firstly, apologies that's it's nearly been two months since my last blog - my bad?

I've got a pretty good excuse though.. As most of you know I was busy trekking my way around Peru and in particular the Classic Inca Trail. The 4 day / 3 night trek was by far the biggest challenge I've ever set out to do both physically and mentally and was truly a once in a lifetime experience that I'll never forget.

The start of the trail (Im in the middle)!!

As we trekked our way along ancient and original stone paths, walked through cloud forests and ruins after ruins we were rewarded with the most breathtaking panoramic views and unless you can experience it yourself, no photo can truly capture, the beauty that surrounds Machu Picchu.  

As I look and sort back through all my photos I thought it was timely that I give you an in sight into what the Inca Trail was really like. Well at least according to Me.


DAY 1: Ollantaytambo to Wayllabamba
Distance hiked: 12 kms

As excited as a little girl on Christmas morning, myself and the rest of our group eagerly boarded our bus from Ollantaytambo and made our way to the starting point of the trail. We got all our packs ready for the porters and walked to the check point. With another stamp on our passports and a group photo done we made our way across the bridge and begun the amazing 4 day journey to Machu Picchu.

If you look at the photo on the left it shows the starting bridge and trail on the left hand side we had to climb to start the trek. Believe it or not, but this was nothing compared to what we going to face come the next few days.

The Steps

We arrived at our first camp site, to find the porters had already beaten us and set up our tents and had organised buckets of warm water for us.  It wasn't too long before we were sat down and treated to a 3 course meal. The porters go to so much trouble and even presented our dessert which was poached pear with pisco poared over it and lit on fire. During our intimate 3 course meal a Thunder storm and rain set in, so it was off to bed early to take refuge in our tents and get an early night for our biggest day ahead.

DAY 2: Wayllabamba to Pacaymayo
Distance hiked: 11 kms 

The second day was definitely the day we were all dreading and by far the toughest. We were woken at daylight about 5.30 am by our porters with a mug of cocoa tea and made our way to breakfast. Omelettes - YUM!!

Battling the weather

We were on the trek by 7am as it was going to be a long day ahead. My little legs struggled to keep up with the rest of the group, and the thin air made it extremely slow. I was stopping every 5-10 steps just to catch my breath so the pace was about 1 km an hour.  Most of the day was spent climbing up hill and battling step after step and the forever changing weather conditions.

Me at the top of Dead Woman's Pass (highest peak at 4200m)

Eventually, I reached the highest peak at Dead Woman's Pass which was 4200m around mid afternoon. This is also the first major milestone of the trek. I was lucky enough that the guide stayed back with me as most of the day I was left on my own as I was about 20 mins behind everyone else. He even carried my pack for me for some of the more the trickier bits !! I was also pleased I had my ipod with to me keep me entertained along the way otherwise I think I definitely would have lost it. 

DAY 3: Pacaymayo to Winay Wayna
Distance hiked: 16 kms 

During the night temperatures dropped to -8 degress. Thankfully again, the porters woke us up with hot cocoa tea to warm us up for the big day ahead.

That morning we were finally introduced to all of our porters.... They each told us their names, if they were married and had childern and how many years they'd been working in on the inca trail. It was our chance to say thank you. Each day we would cheer them on as they passed ran passed us, they would run along the trail with 20 kilo's on their backs, and have our campsites set up and meals ready by the time we arrived. It really made us think twice before we complained again.

The 3rd day was also the longest day, but I really enjoyed it. Most of the day was down hill and I was able to keep with the rest of the group. Don't get me wrong it was still as challenging as the day before especially on your knees, but walking through rainforest, mini caves and more ruins, made it all worth while. We joked along the way saying how much we missed our luxuries of pizza and red wine, but little did we know that that was exactly what the porters had prepared for our dinner that night - you can image our excitement...

Oh - Sorry, I almost forgot to mention that Day 3 included our first and only sightings of Llamas along the trail. 

Our reward at the end of DAY 3

DAY 4: Winay Wayna to Machu Picchu
Distance hiked: 4 kms

At the Sungate watching the Sunrise over Machu Picchu
(Our first sightings of the famous ruins)

The Peruvians definitely know how to save the best for last. We were woken at 3.15am but sadly this time round with no coca tea. We had to quickly get ready and get to breakky where we scoffed down some yummy pancakes and then had to race towards the check point. Amazingly we were the first group there.

We got to the check point around 4 and had to wait for an hour for it to open... As we waited we were treated to the most spectacular shooting star show I have ever seen. One after the other they shot right across the sky. The stars reminded me of something that you'd see in Central Australia but I've never seen shooting stars quite like that. It was so special.

When the check point finally opened around 5, we got another stamp on our passports and it then became a race to be the first at the sun gate and get the best possie to watch the sunrise over Machu Picchu. It was about an hour to the sun gate, and given it was on dusk we all started off with our head torches and had no choice but to keep up with the pace and try not to lose our pole position.

It was our first sighting of the newest wonder of the world and wasn't it something special. As we sat and watched the sun creep over the most famous ruins, it was also the first time we could sit and truly appreciate what we had achieved over the 4 days and celebrate it together.

I MADE IT !!!

After the sun rose, we were on our way again and enjoyed about another hours walk down to the ruins. Once we arrived, we had our photos take on the famous spot and then had to line up and get our passports stamped again. It was soon 8.30 am and we decided that since we'd been up since 3, had hiked 2 hours, it was surely time for a beer. So that we did and enjoyed a couple of celebratory beers cause surely it was beer oclock some where in the world. We were then taken on our own guided tour and got to know the history of the Incas before we headed back down the hill to the little township of Machu Picchu for lunch before eventually making it back to Cuzco around 8.00 pm.

Exhausted and after 5 days of no showers our hotel rooms had never looked so good!! It truly was a once in a life time experience and if it's not on your bucket list then it should be!

Nothing beats beers at 8.30am!

Simply Beautiful

And last but not least - a bit shout out must go to my girls Kristy & Bri. Thanks for sharing this amazing journey with me. It was something I'll treasure forever.
xox.

Me, Kristy & Bri hanging out in the Sacred Valley